OAN’s Sophia Flores
12:28 PM – Friday, December 8, 2023
A Florida woman has been arrested after attempting to burn down renowned American activist Martin Luther King Jr.’s childhood home in Atlanta, Georgia.
Laneisha Shantrice Henderson was arrested and charged on Thursday with attempted arson and interfering with government property.
The 26-year-old was caught on camera carrying a large plastic gasoline container and splashing the front of King’s house with the flammable liquid.
When the Atlanta Police Department arrived on the scene, officers discovered that good Samaritans who had witnessed Henderson’s actions stopped her before she could light the flammable liquid and ignite the house.
A man named Zach Kempf was one of the individuals who stopped the woman after she picked up a lighter.
“It was a little scary there for a minute because we didn’t know who she was, we didn’t know if she had weapons on her, we didn’t know anything,” Kempf said.
Kempf was joined by two off-duty officers who were visiting from New York. Together, the trio restrained the woman by holding her down to the ground until police arrived.
Atlanta Fire Department Battalion Chief Jerry DeBerry commended the bystanders and credited their fast actions for saving the historic home.
“It could have been a matter of seconds before the house was engulfed in flames,” DeBerry said.
The King Center, a nonprofit institute established in 1969 by King’s wife, released a statement X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The National Park Service also announced that there was no permanent damage done to the home.
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